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One of my dear friends was celebrating a birthday this week and we both were looking forward to trying Grit & Grace so that is where we went to celebrate. I honestly can’t say enough great things about this restaurant. I enjoyed everything about the meal from the setting, to the casual style to the food itself.

They style of food is interesting. Chef Brian Pekarcik has created a style that (according to our server) is taking Asian food and “Americanizing” it. Not in the way that the Chinese buffet down your street Americanized things with sweet sauces and fried food, but in a way of taking traditional Asian flavors and giving it an American comfort food touch.

The menu is interesting, and to be honest probably isn’t for the picky eaters among you. But honestly, nothing that I talk about on this blog is for picky eaters! They have some salads, sandwiches, noodle bowls as well as small and large entrees. On top of that, they have a dim sum offering with a server who comes around randomly with the food already prepared. I saw several things that we didn’t order that I’d certainly go back for.

Off the regular menu we went with Short Ribs on cream cheese biscuits and a hollandaise sauce which was a little messy and also amazing. This may have been my favorite item that we ordered! We also ordered the chicken thighs with fried rice, also very tasty. Until I started eating out at some of these great restaurants, I did not realize the joy that is dark chicken meat. The flavor is fantastic in this dish and it was simple and delicious. The last item we ordered from the regular menu was the braised pork in butter lettuce cups. It was also very good, but probably my least favorite of the items we ordered.

The Chicken Thighs

When the dim sum server came to our table, I wasn’t sure what to get! Every item was tempting. Eventually what we got was the kimchi (2 of those because it was so good we ordered another when he came back around later). The pork belly, which is like really amazing bacon, and a steak tartare. Each of them were tasty!

The Short Ribs, Kimchi and Pork Belly

We ended with something sweet of course. I didn’t see desert listed so I was thinking that we would be heading out for something, but they did have two options that were not listed. What we chose was… interesting. It was a lemongrass creme with toasted fruity pebbles. Yes, you heard that correctly, fruity pebbles. It was different. I’m not sure I’d get it again, but it was certainly something to try! I loved the lemongrass creme, just not sure how I felt about it with cereal!

Our Fruity Pebble desert

Again, I really enjoyed everything about this restaurant. We ended up taking close to 2 hours to eat and never once felt rushed. The servers were all very attentive but not overly so. I asked about possibly menu changes and additions and she said that yes, they’ve been and will continue to change up the dim sum as well as the regular menu. It was a small space downtown, not far from Market Square. I’m happy to see new places going in in the downtown area as it seems some of the other neighborhoods around town have been the target for many of the interesting restaurants in the last 5-10 years. With the relatively recent addition of Grit & Grace (as well as Butcher and the Rye which I’m hitting up in about 3 weeks) there are now some really great dining options in downtown Pittsburgh. The only other thing I’ll add is that you need a reservation. While we were there early and it wasn’t that busy at the time, I can see this place getting really crowded later in the evening. Have you been to Grit & Grace yet? What did you think?